Learn about all different species of fish in the United States and around the world. This site packs an aquatic animal punch! Explore the Fishopedia to learn facts about different types of fish such as where they live, what type of food they eat, and how to catch them. There are even sections about fishing safely and conserving fish and their native habitats.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this resource to help your students learn more about local fish and the effects of human behavior on aquatic life. Have students use a fish to tell its own story with the additional assistance of a tool like Blabberize reviewed here. Use in environmental science courses to help students understand sustainability and conservation. Try using it as part of practice for Envirothon competitions. Perhaps even start a wildlife club and use this site to prepare for a field trip of fishing.

Learn about the recycling process. View Vimeo videos about recycling processes including recycling of specific materials. View Infographics of data and information about use of resources and recycling. Need more information? Use the list of links to aid in research. Use the glossary at the bottom of the page to understand unknown words. Lesson plans are available for grades 1-12.

In the Classroom

Use the lesson plans to use the site to learn about resources and recycling. Be sure to discuss what is meant by "Reduce, reuse, recycle" in terms of resources and energy (Infographics and resources are helpful for this) and why recycling is not always the best answer. Do simpler activities or lessons with younger students during Earth Day or Earth Week. Include this link with other resources about resources and recycling. Have different groups each become an expert in the processing of one of the resources and discuss the common steps and problems involved in the recycling process.

Experience an ordinary website in a flippable, newspaper-like format. Enter the url of any website. Surfboard instantly converts the website into a white, flippable, newspaper-like format where all content is laid out nicely. Click on the next arrow at the bottom of your screen to flip to the next page or swipe if using an iPad or iPhone. Choose a headline and click to view the full story. Content is optimized for Safari desktop browser, iPads, and iphones. It may not work well with other browsers. There are tips for using a Chrome browser found on the homepage. Note: our editors noticed many websites would not convert, even using Safari. So test before you use this site in a class or presentation. Many newspaper sites display nicely (without all the ads).

In the Classroom

Teachers with iPads in their classrooms will probably benefit most from this site. Create a link directly to SurfRider.com on classroom ipads for students to view websites in this page-flip format. Any computer with Safari could use this website also. This site could be used to make the content of a website more palatable for students easily distracted by "flashy" websites. Learning support teachers might want to try this presentation of informational texts with their students to see if it improves their comprehension. If your students have blogs, try reading them using this tool for a very "professional" look.

BarryFunEnglish offers several free and useful teacher tools for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the dart board selector to randomly choose students from your class. Import your class from a txt file or input names manually. Easily edit your class list with absent students. Once ready, click to spin the dart board, launch a dart and see what names appears! Open each tool in a new window for a larger viewing area. At the time of this review the other free tools included a random name generator, scoreboard, and stopwatch. Access to all tools is available after registration with email and a password. Note that other areas of this site are subscription based.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use the free registration option to sign up for the site. Bookmark and use this site as a tool for classroom management, such as a way for choosing random students, keeping score, stopwatch, and others. All of the tools are perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Open them in separate windows so that you can drag off to the side if doing an on-screen activity.

100,000 Stars is an amazing, interactive visualization of the universe from Google. It can only be viewed in the Chrome browser. It will start to open in other browsers, but doesn't function properly. Choose the "Take a Tour" option at the top-left side of your screen to view a tour beginning with the sun. Begin to find stars closest to our solar system. Use the slider bar on the right side of the page to travel to the end of the Milky Way. Explore on your own using your computer mouse. Click and zoom to explore the universe or click on any star name to find information about named stars.

In the Classroom

If you do not have Chrome on you classroom computer, it is worth installing it or asking your tech folks to do so. Explore this site as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Allow students to explore on their own on classroom computers. Create a scavenger hunt for stars to find and have students locate them on the site. Have students give a guided star tour on the interactive whiteboard.

Save, organize, and share your favorites (bookmarks) for free using Listango. Access them from any computer. This tool is basic and quick. Sign up with email and a password or your Facebook account. View the introductory video on the home page. Drag the Listango bar to your toolbar to start using the service. Access your account to begin creating folders. Add as many folders as you like or create additional folders as needed. Click on the Listango bar on your browser toolbar to add any webpage to your bookmarks, then choose a folder for placement. Edit bookmarks at any time when logged in to your Listango account. Hover over the description to change the name, add a description, or change folders. Easily share bookmarks via Twitter, Facebook, or email using the link located by each descriptions. Make important links stand out by clicking the star next to the description. Download your bookmarks at anytime through html and csv file links located in the tools section of the site.

In the Classroom

Use Listango to organize and share links used throughout the year. Organize by subject, topic, type of material, etc. Demonstrate how to use Listango on your interactive whiteboard or projector with students. Have students email links used in classroom projects to your email account. Create a Listango classroom account for students to add links found to use throughout the year: ideas could include games, videos, sites for review, etc. You could also create folders for each student, using this simple tool to introduce very young students to an online bookmarking site under adult guidance.

Find videos related to social education, health, citizenship, religions, the environment, crime, and countless eclectic topics at this UK-based site. Though some are controversial, this is a great set of resources for the introduction of difficult subjects to a class. Events that coordinate with videos are listed along the right side of the site. Choose from subjects along the top including Body and Health, Crime, Culture, and more. Many of the videos deal with worldwide issues from a non-U.S. point of view, offering a different perspective. Be sure to preview videos before you share. Some do deal with rather controversial topics. If necessary, check with your administration about the appropriate use of these videos before sharing withe the class OR sharing the link on your class website.

In the Classroom

Share specific videos on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use a video to introduce a debate topic or as a prompt for persuasive writing. As a media literacy exercise, ask students to find another video (perhaps on YouTube) that presents an opposing viewpoint on the same topic as one here. Then challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own videos on this or another controversial topic being discussed in class. Share the videos using a tool such as TeacherTube reviewed here.

This online exhibit introduces you to three patients, all of whom are suffering from different illnesses. Examine each interactive mannequin: take their temperatures, listen to their hearts, lungs, and bowels. Try to determine what is making them sick. Choose the activities link to view a teacher's guide as well as additional online activities (Predict the Flu, Bacteria Blaster, and an Interactive Timeline of Infectious Disease.) View photos and videos to explain the use of antibiotics, food inspection, and malaria worldwide.

In the Classroom

Share activities and video clips on your interactive whiteboard or allow students to explore on their own during health or career units. Biology teachers can use this as practical application during units on cells and viruses. Challenge students to create a newspaper article about preventing the spread of disease using the Newspaper Clipping Generator.

Find over 50,000 sounds of music, nature sounds, spoken words/poetry and human environments. Click dots on a map to see the location and play the sound. Search by keyword or by category and save to your playlist for future use once you create a free account.

In the Classroom

This site is a great addition to any world language, history, music, English, or science class. Use the oral history section to hear stories from Holocaust survivors. Listen to accents from around the world. Have you ever wanted to know what a cicada sounds like? Use the recordings from the nature and environment section. Science and music teachers can use the site to show how sound waves look. Use the site to demonstrate how to create an oral history. Then have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of a particular topic you are studying. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). In world language classes, have students explore locations to learn more about the sound of that country. Then have them create a recording that uses recorded sounds as background to their own spoken words in their new language.

Find citizen science projects that are available for students. Scientists contribute project ideas. Science teachers register and can sign up for email newsletters describing the projects. Example projects include: EyeWire (participants "reconstruct the tree-like shapes of the neurons in the retina to help the computer develop 3-D reconstructions of the neurons"), WaterIsotopes "(a call for assistance in collecting samples of precipitation - both rain and snow associated with the passage of Hurricane Sandy"), the Baby Laughter Project, and Citizen Weather Watcher Observer Program. Topics range from weather to birds to medicine to sound. Rather than focusing on teachingcontent, the activities focus on using scientific communities to connect and immerse students in the science.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Find a great project for your students to participate in, entering data and looking at the results. Search by activity or topic to find a project geared towards your students age range, curriculum, and ability to complete. Have students make a multimedia presentation about one of the "projects" using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.

Find great images, links, and articles about the sun and space on this European site. View multimedia videos, high resolution images, animations, and downloads. Find additional resources for further information about space missions. View and read related articles. Find current topics of focus in Astronomy such as recent and impending solar eclipses. The link "For Educators" is full of "ready to go" lesson ideas. There is also a link on the Educators' section to esaKIDS: designed with elementary students in mind. Most of this site is ideal for secondary students; however, parts of the Educators' area could be used with upper elementary students.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a learning station. The text portions are challenging, so you should pair weaker readers with a partner as they research on this site. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of one of the concepts. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Have students create posters on paper or do it together online as a class using a tool such PicLits (reviewed here). Or use other online tools such as Padlet (reviewed here), PodOmatic (reviewed here).

PictureSET is a collection of downloadable visuals to support receptive and expressive communication in the classroom, at home, and in the community. Choose from the main category titles: Young Adult, School, Community, Home, and others to access resources. Available resources include songs, posters, booklets, and stories. Print and save files using links included. Many of the collections were designed to meet specific needs such as articulation.

In the Classroom

Print posters from the site for classroom use for procedures such as bathroom routines, cleanup, teaching personal hygiene, etc. This is an excellent site to use with learning support, or even life skills students. Many parts of this site would be ideal to use in the ESL/ELL classroom. Special ed teachers looking for free communications materials will love the teacher-made options available here. You can aso share materials you create. World language teachers can use the images to create vocabulary challenges for students to narrate.

Scoop.it considers itself a free "publishing-by-curation" tool on the web. You create a Scoop topic and add articles and websites to the topic. People who view your Scoop see what you want them to see. This is a way to deliver subject focused articles and information to a specific audience. Scoops can be shared through social media or using a widget to embed on your website.

In the Classroom

Create Scoops for projects so that students have a one stop shop to research. Create a Scoop with information and sites for students to use as a study guide. This also gives you some control over the information to which your students are exposed. Have students sign up for their own free account. Students could use this as a working bibliography of the resources they use for research, posters, and presentations for all classes. Assign students to create a collection of online literature about a specific topic as an assignment. Have students use the "add your insight" text box to provide a mini review of the articles.

Check out this online journal with a twist. Each day the site sends an email with questions about your day to prompt you to write. Respond to the email with your entry for automatic posting. Images can also be added to entries. Personalize the site using your choice of color and fonts. View entries as a PDF for easy printing as desired. Register with an email and unique name for your diary.

In the Classroom

Create a diary with a message to your students each day. Have students keep a diary of their first week at school. They can re-read this at the end of the school year. Have students keep a diary of a famous person for a character in a story that you have been reading in class. Ask students to write a diary about a picture that you have sent to them. Have students write diary entries from the point of view of soldiers, presidents, scientists, and more. Prompt a giving diary during the holiday season with students writing about what they GAVE to someone else each day.

This is a wonderful site for finding quality images to use in projects. Use these images for either personal or professional projects. Registration is not necessary to download them. All images are copyright free. Search images by name and filter by orientation (landscape or portrait) and image type (photo, clipart, or vector.) Be sure to use the filters at the top. Right click to download. Use good search terms to find the best pictures possible. You must know where to save images on your computer. Be sure to give credit to the person who took the picture and show their name wherever the image is used. Consider adding images to this site to increase the number of options and expand the ideas of Creative Commons. Adding images does require you to join the site (email required).

In the Classroom

Use in the classroom any time images are needed for projects, even if the project is not put on a website for others to see. Be sure students are aware that any time another person's image is used, they must give full credit for it, even if that owner cannot see it. Student groups can use Pixabay to collectively find the best image to use for a project. Challenge students to create personalized images (with text) using PicFont, reviewed here. Teachers can collect images for use on their interactive whiteboard for sorting activities (monocots and dicots, producers and consumers, etc). Use images as writing prompts or in poetry collections. Art teachers can find images for students to use as references or in photomontages (with credit). Elementary teachers can use images from this site as part of student-run interactive whiteboard activities, such as labeling parts of plants. Speech and language or ESL/ELL teachers can find images to use in vocabulary development activities. World language teachers can find cultural photos to use in oral exercises.

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Comments

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This CurriConnects list offers books about living green. Read all about efforts to live green and do what is good for our environment. These books tell about people who are DOING something more than complain about the environmental damage caused by poor human behavior. Help your students discover ideas to make a difference and contribute to positive change. This list includes books for all grade levels but is especially complete in elementary and middle grades. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles'® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!

In the Classroom

This is a great match during units on the environment, current events, or world issues. As students select and read from this list, they will have many opportunities to interact and find meaning from informational texts. This list is ideal during April for Earth Day or as you study the environment--or even geography and human impact on our planet.

View and zoom into areas of the Tree of Life Explorer interactive viewer. Click on an area of the tree to zoom in to identify how species are related to one another and the evolutionary relationships that exist between species. Find where paths diverged in the past to create new branches of the tree of life. More trees are planned for the future to explore other classes of animals. At the time of this review topics included: the tree of bird life, the tree of mammal life, the tree of amphibian life, and a tutorial.

In the Classroom

Use this site to view how organisms are related and identify the evolutionary relationships among the different animals and biodiversity. Use this site as a springboard to discussions in class. Share the videos and interactives on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Research information that explains and shows the evolutionary evidence that exists. Have students create their own simple infographic of a single species in relationship to its "relatives."

Sparky teaching's goal is to ignite classroom creativity, and they provide resources to help you get started. Check out the resources section for many online and downloadable posters and activities. Especially interesting is the "365 things that make you go hmmm..." portion. Find notes for teachers, today's big question, viewer responses, and archives of previous questions. Another great resource is the 10 word stories. Don't miss lots of wonderful reader-submitted stories. This site is sure to get your creative juices flowing! And the "site" doesn't want their name or headings starting with capital letters because they say they are not a title, but rather they are what they do in the classroom. Be aware: this site was created in the United Kingdom. You may notice some slight spelling/vocabulary differences. There are some items for sale on this site, but you can find free ideas and posters.

In the Classroom

Display one of the 365 things that make you go hmmm... prompts on your interactive whiteboard. As students enter class, have the class use Postica (reviewed here), to create web-based sticky notes on a sticky board with responses. Demonstrate and share the 10 word stories with students then challenge them to make their own 10 word story to summarize classroom reading materials, books, math processes or tips, or any other classroom topic. Be sure to check out the articles and reviews on the site for more creative thinking ideas. Use the 12 Days of Christmas activity and worksheets to sneak in some math practice around the holidays!

Neotake is a search engine to find ebooks online. Type in the name of a book to search through over 5 million entries. Use filters to refine your search by language, format, or price (check FREE.) Results are returned with tags, formats offered, and language(s) available. Don't have a specific title in mind? Browse the top 100 ebooks yesterday, last week, or last month. However, be aware that some returns will be adult material so the site is best used to find specific books or used by adults.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site to find ebooks available online. Be sure to select the FREE option under price. You may want to use this as a personal search engine, not in class, as some of the material is not appropriate for students AND a good portion of this site is not free.

Track goals and accomplishments, for both students and teachers. Create classes by uploading a .csv (Excel) file or using the template provided on the site. Then create goals for the entire class or individuals as desired. Choose from hundreds of badges such as mathlete, completed outline, perfect attendance, etc. Don't see a badge you want? No problem -- create your own! Award badges for learning activities completed with partner museums in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and San Francisco. View awards by class, or individuals may view their own badges using their access code provided with creation of the class account. View the introductory video to get started using ClassBadges. Sign-up is by invitation only. Request an invitation and wait for an acceptance email, generally received within a day.

In the Classroom

Badges are the "stickers' of today and much more. Use ClassBadges to keep track of student progress with large assignments, rewarding badges for each completed step. Present awards using badges such as Student of the Month, Math Hero, Perfect Attendance, and more. Share this site the first week of school as you set up your classroom expectations. Autistic support and behavior support teachers will find this tool useful and easy to use for reinforcement and tracking. Gamify your class using badges as reward levels. Challenge students to progress through different achievement levels by providing badges along the way. Share student login information with parents so they can track progress and accomplishments at home. (Be sure to keep the login information yourself too. Just in case students misplace their login.) Keep track of mastery of various topics or skills, much like a sticker chart! Students can embed their class badges in other sites, such as personal blogs, using the embed code. Use with Wikispaces, Facebook, Edmodo, blogs, and more!